4.  The applicants, Mr Srbislav Marčić (the “first applicant”), Mr Stevan Kostić (the “second applicant”), Mr Slavko Pešić (the “third applicant”), Mr Radoslav Pesić (the “fourth applicant”), Mr Časlav Stošić (the “fifth applicant”), Mr Sreten Stojanović (the “sixth applicant”), Mr Budimir Stajić (the “seventh applicant”), Mr Petar Pesić (the “eighth applicant”), Mr Slađan Stanisavljević (the “ninth applicant”), Mr Branko Dinić (the “tenth applicant”), Mr Saćip Demić (the “eleventh applicant”), Mr Dragan Živković (the “twelfth applicant”), Mr Dragan Nikolić (the “thirteenth applicant”), Mr Zoran Stanojević (the “fourteenth applicant”), Mr Mile Milenković (the “fifteenth applicant”), Ms Branka Mirčić (the “sixteenth applicant”) and Ms Ljiljana Petrović (the “seventeenth applicant”) were all, at the relevant time, citizens of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro who lived in Vladičin Han, Surdulica, Relince, Suva Morava, Suva Morava, Prekodolce, Prekodolce, Vranje, Vladičin Han, Žitorađe, Prekodolce, Vladičin Han, Ravna Reka, Suva Morava, Surdulica, Vladičin Han and Vladičin Han, respectively.
5.  In the 1980s all the applicants, except for the twelfth, sixteenth and seventeenth, were employed with “Mehanizacija”, an organisational unit (osnovna organizacija udruženog rada) of a State-owned company called “Erozija”, based in Vladičin Han, Serbia.
6.  The father of the twelfth applicant and that of both the sixteenth and seventeenth applicants also worked for the same employer but they died in 1994 and 2001 respectively.
7.  On an unspecified date the aforementioned employees issued civil proceedings against “Mehanizacija” before the Labour Court (Osnovni sud udruženog rada) in Vranje, seeking the payment of salaries which they had earned while working on a project in Iraq.
8.  On 10 March 1988 the Commercial Court (Okružni privredni sud) in Leskovac opened insolvency proceedings (stečajni postupak) in respect of “Mehanizacija” (“the debtor”), its decision being published in the Official Gazette of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dated 8 April 1988.
9.  Several days prior to this date, the same court appears to have instituted separate insolvency proceedings in respect of “Erozija”.
10.  On 20 October 1988 the Labour Court informed the Commercial Court about the plaintiffs' claims which had been specified in US Dollars (“USD”).
11.  On 15 October 1990 the Commercial Court recognised these claims as follows: USD 5,240.80 in respect of the first applicant; USD 4,980.80 in respect of the second applicant; USD 2,269.30 in respect of the third applicant; USD 3,244.95 in respect of the fourth applicant; USD 4,935.55 in respect of the fifth applicant; USD 839 in respect of the sixth applicant; USD 4,872.95 in respect of the seventh applicant; USD 4,181.20 in respect of the eighth applicant; USD 5,055.85 in respect of the ninth applicant; USD 5,003.55 in respect of the tenth applicant; USD 2,838.10 in respect of the eleventh applicant; USD 5,173.25 in respect of the twelfth applicant's father; USD 4,186.80 in respect of the thirteenth applicant; USD 4,768.40 in respect of the fourteenth applicant; USD 4,800.00 in respect of the fifteenth applicant; and USD 3,447.50 in respect of the father of the sixteenth and the seventeenth applicants.
12.  On 27 December 1990, taking into account the currency exchange rate and the available assets converted into cash (deo unovčene stečajne mase za raspodelu), the Commercial Court adopted a formal decision specifying the exact amounts to be paid by the debtor in Yugoslav Dinars (“YUD”): YUD 2,139 to the first applicant; YUD 2,031 to the second applicant; YUD 925 to the third applicant; YUD 1,323 to the fourth applicant; YUD 2,013 to the fifth applicant; YUD 342 to the sixth applicant; YUD 1,988 to the seventh applicant; YUD 1,705 to the eight applicant; YUD 2,062 to the ninth applicant; YUD 2,041 to the tenth applicant; YUD 1,157 to the eleventh applicant; YUD 2,110 to the twelfth applicant's father; YUD 1,708 to the thirteenth applicant; YUD 1,945 to the fourteenth applicant; YUD 1,956 to the fifteenth applicant; YUD 1,406 to the father of the sixteenth and the seventeenth applicants. All sums were to be paid within fifteen days of the date when the decision of the Commercial Court became final.
13.  On 12 February 1991 the Commercial Court's decision was upheld by the High Commercial Court (Viši privredni sud Srbije) and it thereby became final.
14.  The claimants appear to have subsequently informed the Commercial Court that they would be willing to accept 40% of their claims in USD (see paragraph 11 above).
15.  On 13 March 1996 and 28 August 2001, respectively, the Municipal Court (Opštinski sud) in Vladičin Han declared the twelfth, sixteenth and seventeenth applicants to be their fathers' legal heirs.
16.  On 13 December 2004 the applicants sent a letter to the Commercial Court seeking access to the case file, a copy of the formal decision concluding the insolvency proceedings, proof that such a decision, if issued, was published in the Official Gazette and an additional copy of the “cover page” of the case file specifically indicating that the proceedings had ended.
17.  In response, they received only a certified copy of the “cover page” without the prescribed indication that the proceedings in question had been concluded.
18.  On 7 March 2005 and 1 April 2005 the applicants complained to the Commercial Court and the President of the High Commercial Court. They requested that the proceedings be expedited and noted that the case had been pending for more than 16 years but that they were yet to receive the amounts awarded.
19.  It would appear that all the other creditors in the insolvency proceedings had their claims met by the debtor.
20.  The Government provided a copy of a form issued by the Registry of the Commercial Court, containing, inter alia, the date “27 December 1990” next to the standard printed rubric entitled “on completion of all business arising from the insolvency proceedings”.